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Carlos Sainz says he expects to start deciding his Williams future during the summer break. Sainz said: "I cannot give you a date, but I imagine, as I always said, that I was going to wait until the summer to sit down with my team and think about this, and discuss with them, with James and everyone, the future of the team and my future in it. I expect that during the summer we will start to take a decision and start to see a bit more of the situation, but the exact timing, I don't know."
Lando Norris says Kimi Antonelli has been the standout âcomplete packageâ of the first half of the season, after âconvincinglyâ beating Mercedes team-mate George Russell. Norris said: âI think you have to say Kimi, as a complete package. They have a great car, and he's done an incredible job, convincingly beating his teammate every single weekend. So, when you're talking about a championship, you have to give credit to Kimi.â
George Russell says his work with a sports psychologist is focused on maximising his performance and managing the pressures of an F1 season, rather than being something he turns to only in difficult periods. Russell said: "I've been working with a sports psychologist since 2020. This was more to help me get the most out of myself - but also the people who I work with, how best to handle the pressures of a race weekend, or how best to handle my energy over the course of a season. It isn't necessarily to help in the really tough times."
Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord said grid penalties are âalmost inevitableâ for Kimi Antonelli and George Russell in the second half of the season because of how many power-unit components Mercedes has already used. Lord said: "Looking at how many we've used in the first half of the season, I think it's almost inevitable that, at some point, there will be penalties to take. But it's realistically going to be hard to get to the end of the season on the existing hardware that we've got. Kimi's on his fourth set of bits, so the next ones incur penalties, and George is on his third in the first half of the year. So yeah, the probabilities and the maths would suggest that both, at some point, will need to take a form of penalty; size to be determined!"
FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis says he wants Formula 1 cars to be âanother 80 kilos lighterâ in the next regulation overhaul, after the minimum weight was reduced to 768kg for 2026. Tombazis said: "Now, is that where I would like us to be? No. I would like us to be another 80 kilos lighter, and maybe still a bit shorter and a bit smaller in the future. That's the sort of target, that we do another big step from what was possible to do now."
Lewis Hamilton rated his first half of the 2026 Formula 1 season as âslightly above averageâ, despite sitting second in the driversâ standings at the summer shutdown. Hamilton said: "Slightly above average, maybe."
Cadillac have replaced team principal Graeme Lowdon with former Alpine executive director Marcin Budkowski in a summer break leadership change, with Budkowski taking over from next weekendâs Dutch Grand Prix. CEO Dan Towriss insisted it was a planned transition rather than a response to Cadillacâs point-less debut campaign, saying: âAs we enter this new era for the Cadillac Formula 1 Team, Marcin brings exceptional F1 experience⌠that will strengthen our organisation.â Budkowski said his priority is âmaximising car development within the cost capâ and improving operational performance.
FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis says Formula 1âs Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) system has âweaknessesâ that need addressing, even though he believes the FIAâs measurements have been accurate. Tombazis said: "I think the system is working as it was designed, but I do think there are some weaknesses that we need to address in the future. Also to make it less time-consuming and less controversial, we do need to make some steps to improve it in the future."
Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner says he would be willing to return to Formula 1 if the right project came along. Steiner said: "Yeah. I will come back if there is a project I like. I mean, I always say, just to go back and do a job: no."
Adrian Newey says he is âvery happyâ with the progress in Aston Martinâs relationship with Honda after what he described as a âdisastrous startâ to their partnership. Newey said: "Out of what can only be called a disastrous start, the positive of that, because you're always looking for positives, is that it's brought Honda and ourselves, AMR, into a very close working relationship. We continue to develop that in all areas. So, I'm very happy with the progress we're making from a relationship point of view. Normally, if relationships improve, then performance also improves."
Formula 1 president Stefano Domenicali says drivers are free to criticise the sportâs 2026 power unit regulations, but he would rather debate any concerns behind closed doors and in a constructive way. Domenicali said: "You know me, we are not here to put tape on the mouth of anyone. The beauty of our sport is that everyone can have an opinion, but the opinion is an opinion. There is someone who has the duty to have a line. There are certain drivers that prefer, of course, certain things. That in the process we have highlighted the need to be constructive in that respect."
Andrea Stella says the enforced break in April was a key turning point in McLarenâs season because it gave the team time to fully reassess the MCL40, even if he described the pause as a âparadoxâ in how it ultimately helped. Stella said: "There wasn't a single event that changed course; rather, it was a growing awareness of the scale of the challenge we're facing and the adjustments we needed to make. Paradoxically, the enforced break in April probably allowed us to focus entirely on analysing the MCL40's performance and to fully understand that we needed to redirect or strengthen its development in certain areas of the car."
Max Verstappen says Red Bullâs âbig priorityâ after the summer break is to find more overall performance and fix the problems that can see them lose performance across a weekend or during a race. Verstappen said: "We need to first find more overall performance. Then we need to fix our problems, where we sometimes just lose performance over a weekend, or even from the start of the race to the end. So, yeah, that is also actually a big priority."
Sergio Perez says the biggest challenge of returning to a full-time Formula 1 drive with Cadillac has been getting back into the rhythm of the sportâs demanding schedule, after leaving the grid at the end of 2024. Perez said: "The biggest challenge was getting back to the rhythm of the schedule of an F1 driver, to be honest. Initially, like I was doing a test and then getting a message that I had to be in two days, in a different country, and then two days later in another country. Like getting up to [speed with] that, you tend to forget how the life of an F1 driver is, how busy and how scheduled everything is, you live through a schedule."
Andrea Stella said McLarenâs latest upgrades introduced a slightly different concept in parts of the MCL40 after the team decided it needed to âcorrect the callsâ made when designing the car over the winter, following Lando Norrisâ win in Hungary. Stella said: "I think the main aspect of these upgrades is that they introduce some parts that follow a slightly different concept in some areas of the car. We realised after we delivered the MCL40, and also to some extent looking at the concepts that were present in some cars that were faster than us, we realised that we needed to correct the calls."
Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson says he is no longer fixated on trying to reach Red Bullâs âtop teamâ and is instead focused on getting to the front and winning in Formula 1, wherever that opportunity comes. Liam Lawson said: "I think [my mindset] used to be, obviously, very specific: coming into Red Bull and trying to get to the top team. When I came into F1, and when I was young, that was really where my head was at, or what I thought about. But I think now, honestly, it's not specific. Like everybody else, I'm working towards being at the front and winning in Formula 1, and where that is, I have no idea. And I'm not too fussed about it, but that's what I'm working towards."
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